Bitter Melon
ಹಾಗಲಕಾಯಿकरेलाபாகல்
Momordica charantia L.
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 4.9 m
- wide
- 1.4 m
Cucurbitaceae
Also called Balsam Pear, Bitter gourd, Bitter squash, Bitter Cucumber, Cerasee
When it flowers
Flowers all year in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- Climbing annualKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Wet tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Trop. & Subtrop. Old World to S. PacificKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from NC State Extension, one source
- Height
- 3.7 m to 6.1 mRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Spread
- 91 cm to 1.8 mRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension, one source
- Flowers
- YellowRead from NC State Extension, one source
Not known yet: coldest it survives, heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- Pepino cimarrón, Balsamina, Cundeamor
- Chinese
- 苦瓜, 金玲子, 野苦瓜
- Portuguese
- melão-de-são-caetano
- French
- Melon amer, Margose, Momordique
- root
- tocaxihuitl, Cerasee, konmonm kouli
- Indonesian
- Peria, Pare
- Russian
- Момордика харанция
- Japanese
- ゴーヤ, ニガウリ, ツルレイシ
- Sinhala
- කරවිල
- Chinese (China)
- 苦瓜, 凉瓜, 癞瓜
- Turkish
- kudret narı
- Korean
- 여주
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA 4.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY-SA
- 3D model: Momordica charantia (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.